‘Yes, Guv. Would you like me to go over what the cafe owner told us?’

‘After we’ve heard what Alex Higgins and Ray Reardon have to tell us,’ he said drily, raising a few chuckles of laughter.

Stanley put on a stern face. ‘The most important thing I have to tell you, sir – and everyone else in this room – is don’t play snooker for money with this short-arsed bandit!’

‘Didn’t you know Dabs played for the Met?’ the Colonel laughed.

‘No, I did not!’ He scowled at Dabs, who grinned back.

‘Apart from you getting fleeced, what happened at the snooker hall?’ Murphy asked.

Stanley gave detailed descriptions of Aidan, the manager, and the Spanish barmaid, Maria. Based on the registered keyholders for the snooker hall, he concluded that they were Aidan O’Reilly and Maria Fernadez.

Dabs emphasised the recent cut to O’Reilly’s forehead and the blood trail at the Woodville Road scene and on the door sill of the Cortina, suggesting that the passenger in the getaway car had sustained a head injury.

‘Any sighting of someone that might be Tommy Riley?’ Jane asked.

Stanley shook his head. ‘No, but Aidan told Maria that Tommy wanted to speak to her in his office, so he must have been on the premises.’

Murphy looked pleased. ‘Good work, you two. Keep digging and see what else you can find out about them.’

‘If O’Reilly is involved in the robbery, and the one who started shooting at the police car, it’s hard to believe he hasn’t any previous convictions,’ the Colonel remarked.

‘He could be using a false identity,’ Bax suggested.

‘It’s possible, but when we were in the snooker hall it struck me that the Aidan O’Reilly we ran a PNC check on might not come up if he’s only got a criminal record in Northern Ireland or the Republic – their PNC systems aren’t linked to ours. I tried the Garda in Dublin first, but it was like pulling teeth – their systems are from the Stone Age. I then tried the RUC criminal records office in Belfast based on the detailed description and age range I gave them – they had four hits on the surname O’Reilly. I asked them to send the results through with copies of their fingerprints – that’s why the fax machine’s been whirring away.’

‘Have you got something to compare the prints to?’ Murphy asked.

‘O’Reilly served me a drink, so I nicked the glass. I’ve already dusted it in my office and managed to lift a couple of good prints onto acetate, which I can compare to the ones the RUC fax over.’

‘Nice work, Dabs. You and Stanley get the stuff off the fax and have a look through it while we continue the meeting.’